Fairfield County is in central Ohio. The county seat is Lancaster.
In the 1830s settlers began arriving in Iowafrom Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia. Iowa became a state in 1846.
John H. Long was born in January, 1814 in Fairfield County, Ohio. According to census records, his parents were both born in Pennsylvania.
His family is described in detail in the section on the John H. Long Family. His first wife was Sarah Ann LeFevre. His son, Thomas Long's, death certificate said that his mother was Mary LeFevre, but the marriage record says Sarah Ann.
He became a widower again when Sarah died May 28, 1903 in Aurora, Nebraska.
His son Harry's biography said he was a Republican and for many years was a justice of the peace. During his active years he was a farmer in Iowa, but had been retired for a long period prior to 1906, when he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska
Nebraska was not settled by many European-Americans until 1848. In the 1860s, the government took Native American land and opened it for homesteaders. Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867,
In the death of John H. Long which occurred in Lincoln at 8:20 Sunday evening, Nebraska lost one of its oldest pioneers. Mr. Long was ninety seven years of age and was the oldest man in his city. He has however lived in Lincoln only two years. In 1871 Mr. Long came west to Nebraska,and settled on a homestead two miles from Aurora, where he lived until he moved to Lincoln. Mr. Long was living with his son, Horace M. Long at 609 North Twenty-seventh. Besides Horace, Mr. Long leaves two other sons, Harry H. Long and David A. Long of Grand Island, and a daughter Mrs. T. J. Meyers of Council Bluffs. The body was taken to Aurora for burial Monday afternoon. Lincoln Daily Star
July 31, 1911, p. 2
The Homestead Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862. It gave an applicant 160 acres of undeveloped land outside of the original colonies. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the United States could file an application. They had to live on the land and make improvements to receive title.
